1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and processes for accomplishing tasks in a computing environment and more particularly to systems and methods for collaborating tasks in a networked environment.
2. Background of the Invention
In the early twenty first century, it is now hard to imagine life without computers. Computers are involved in an extraordinarily broad array of matters involving personal lives and business and professional activities. As a general matter, it can be said that computers are used to accomplish tasks via applications which are designed for the particular purpose. This is true whether a business process such as mortgage underwriting is being undertaken or in connection with a personal task such as balancing a checking account.
Many, although not all, computer based tasks rely on a networked environment wherein the universe of data and/or application programming necessary to accomplish the overall task is distributed among more than one computing device. In these cases, the computing devices communicate with one another such that data, application programming and external inputs can be shared among all or some of the computing devices towards the goal of achieving the overall task. The “network” may be any one of known interconnection methodologies that allows for communication. For example, various networks such as the Internet, wide area networks, local area networks, wireless connectivity and business based intranets may be used.
Unfortunately, various drawbacks associated with task processing in a distributed environment exist. These drawbacks manifest themselves in many ways such as causing delays in task accomplishment or particular steps associated therewith. Additionally, most current network based applications require significant expenditures of labor and money in order to get them set up working properly and maintained. Furthermore, in these distributed environments, the weakest link in the chain can cause the whole process to be delayed or, worse, could prevent the overall task from being completed. In practice this means that if one of the computers which has responsibility for performing a necessary step in the overall task is unavailable or is not functioning properly, the execution of the overall task could be at risk.
By way of example, in the case of an internet based storefront, as the same is currently implemented, various business entities, various computing platforms and various software applications distributed in various places may be involved. The front end interface may reside on one computer server, the database of available products and the related database application may reside on another server, the credit card processing application may reside on yet another server and the fulfillment processing application may be located on still another server. If any one of these servers and/or applications malfunctions or becomes unavailable, customer orders may be substantially delayed or remain unfulfilled.
Furthermore, computer based tasks and, in particular, network based tasks are usually designed such that a centralized database and centralized processor are used to control the overall task at a high level while some or all sub-tasks may be implemented on remote processors with or without access to separate remote databases. This implementation suffers from various drawbacks. For one, if the centralized processor or database is unavailable or malfunctioning, the overall task will be at risk and/or delayed. Further, each task that is assigned to a remote node is implemented with separate software which must be separately purchased, installed, maintained and configured. This can be time consuming not to mention that it can lead to errors, interface incompatibilities, version incompatibilities, communication link failures and other problems. When more than one business entity is involved in an overall process, these entities must be highly diligent in communicating with one another in order to ensure that handoffs, data-sharing, versioning, and communication issues are all properly addressed.